Synopsis

The Turtle and the Island A Folk Tale from Papua New Guinea by Barbara Ker Wilson

The story of how the great sea turtle builds the island of Papua New Guinea. Wishing for a place to rest in the sun, he piles up the sand and rocks until they emerge from the sea into a beautiful, fertile island. In doing so, he finds a wife and a home for the lonely man in the dark cave, far beneath the waves. A beautifully-told creation myth with stunning illustrations.

Reviews

Long, long ago, in the days when turtles had teeth, there lived a great sea turtle, the mother of all sea turtles, who spent her time swimming about the wide sea that now people call the Pacific Ocean. . . . She swam from one side of the sea to the other, to and fro between the lands that bordered that vast ocean. from the book

About the Author

Barbara Ker Wilson was born on 24 September 1929 in Sunderland, in the north of England. In 1964 she immigrated to Australia, living first in Adelaide, then Melbourne, then Sydney. I now live in Leura, in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.

As a child she used to accompany my father to a large publishing office in London, to deliver corrected proofs of his latest engineering textbook, and she knew then that she wanted to work in the world of writing and publishing.

Her first 'successful' work, written when she was eight, was a play based on the coronation of King George VI; it was performed at her primary school in England.

The Second World War influenced her greatly, particularly the experience of living through air raids in London. With the end of the war came her first experience of travelling abroad; ever since, she has travelled extensively in Europe and Asia.